In the automated sorting and grading of fruits and vegetables it is common practice to align the articles of produce in one or more rows on a moving conveyor belt and pass the articles past an inspection position where they are graded according to color and/or some other characteristic. When grading according to color, as is done with tomatoes and apples for example, a light source and light responsive means commonly are located adjacent the end of the conveyor belt. Produce which has acceptable color characteristics, as determined by color grading means associated with the light responsive means, is permitted to follow a free fall path from the discharge end of the conveyor. From there the produce is passed to another conveyor, or to a bin. If the color of an article of produce is other than the optimum color desired, the color grading means produces a reject signal which is coupled to a solenoid to open a pneumatic valve. An air nozzle directs a jet of high pressure air, or other fluid, across the free fall path of the article and deflects it out of the free fall path onto a third conveyor or into another bin assigned to the less than optimum articles. Apparatus of this type is quite common and further description is believed unnecessary.
Because the articles of produce being sorted usually are somewhat round in shape and have smooth surface contours, a significant portion of the air blast from the nozzle tends to follow around the smooth curved surface of the article so that the full force of the air blast is not effectively acting against the article to deflect it from its free fall path. This requires that the source supplying the air blast be relatively large to assure that the quantity and pressure of the air blast are sufficiently large to obtain the required force acting against the article of produce.